If Time Could Tell
by justyouraveragewriter44
Summary: Anything can happen in Seven years at Hogwarts for a certain book reading, puffy haired witch and a red headed jokester. Friendship will form, pranks will be pulled, and love could flourish. But not everything will be good. Enemies will attack, Heart break will occur, and lives will be lost. Will the good outweigh the bad? Or are things destined to fall apart? only time will tell.
1. Chapter 1

** I own nothing. Enjoy!**

It was their third year enrolled at Hogwarts.

Fred and George Weasley were on the train, heading towards the school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and had already began pranking one of the new first years. His name was Neville Longbottom, he had a pet frog. (Why he decided to choose a frog instead of an Owl or Cat the twins'll never understand.) Nevertheless this Neville Longbottom seemed very attached to his frog, but once the candy trolley came around, the frog seemed to have been seemingly pushed to the back of the boys mind for just a moment.

And that moment was all that was needed for one of the twins to quickly snatch the frog up.

Fred and George went into a different train car and leaned towards each other.

"How long do you think it'll take for that boy to realize his frogs gone?" Fred asked

"Dunno. I'm guessing ten minutes, what with all the candy he was buying." George replied.

"Ten minutes? No, I'm thinking more like five."

"TREVOR!" the twins heard Neville yell from down the hall. the boys looked at eachother and laughed hysterically.

"Looks like it took him a lot less time than we expected." George said thru his laughs

"No kidding." Fred agreed.

* * *

"Neville please stop panicking everything will be alright." A girl with thick brown hair said to the hysterical boy.

"Trevor! Trevor where are you?! I have to find him!" The boy, Neville said as he frantically searched thru his belongings, throwing them everywhere.

"Neville...Neville please-!" the girl said as she dodged the books and clothes that were being thrown everywhere. "He probably got out of the car when the trolley came thru…" one of Neville's shoes hit her hard in the side of her head.

"Ow-!" she raised her hand to her head and winced. she sighed frustratingly. "If I go out and look for Trevor will you promise to stop throwing things?" She asked him.

Neville immediately stopped what he was doing and looked at her. he quietly nodded, the look on his face reminded the girl of a lost dog. she closed her eyes and sighed. her head throbbing terribly, where his shoe had hit her. "Alright then. I'll be back." She said as she got up. As Neville thanked her, she turned towards him and nodded with a smile before closing the door to the car and beginning to search for Trevor.

As she walked thru the halls asking others if they had seen a stray toad anywhere by chance, she overheard two people laughing in a car down the hall. she walked towards the car and pressed herself against the wall next to the door, so she could hear what they were saying.

"Blimey that was hilarious!" One of them said

"Did you hear that scream? I didn't know anyone could scream that high."

"It was so worth taking it, just for that."

"First years are so easy to mess with"

A high pitched Scream? theft? from a first year? Hermione decided she had heard everything she needed to. Whoever was in there must have taken Trevor. The girl frowned and pulled the sliding door open hard. She was met with two identical male red-headed twins staring up at her with surprised expressions. The girl looked around, she saw no toad, but the boys seemed to have the word guilty written all over their faces. she frowned more.

"Where is it?" she asked forcefully

"Ahh...Hello to you too?" one of the twins said

"Can we ask what it is you're looking for?" The other asked

"Because we have no idea what you're talking about…."

"Even less where whatever it is might be."

"Please don't toy with me" The girl said "A first year named Neville, his toad has disappeared. And I just overheard you two talking about you two stealing something from a first year and getting a kick out of their screams when they realized their possession was missing. You must have taken it."

The boys shook their heads simultaneously.

"We have no idea what you're talking about."

"We didn't take anything miss Puffy hair."

The girls hand went up to her hair, her face turning red from anger and embarrassment because of the nickname they called her. she pushed as much hair back and behind her ears trying to tame it a little. "My name is Hermione…" She said through gritted teeth.

"Well, nice to meet you Hermione! I'm Fred." One of the boys said while pointing to himself

"And I'm George!" The other said immediately after.

"And although we appreciate the claim, that we would be clever enough to take that kids toad, I'm afraid we have absolutely nothing of the sorts on us.

Just then, movement could be seen under Fred's robes, as well as a faint croaking sound heard. The boys stared up in horror. While Hermione stared at them in triumph. "I knew it. Alright give it here." She held out her hand and took a step closer to Fred.

"I-I told you, I don't have anything..."

"Oh come now don't be daft. I wasn't born yesterday you know. now give it here. so I can give him back to Neville." She took another step closer.

"Look Puffy hair, I don't have that slimy toad. Perhaps someone else took it, or he just ran away from his owner. Or Hopped really."

Hermione's ears reddened with rage. "My. name. is. not. Puffy Hair!" Hermione took a step closer with every word she said until she was standing right above where he was sitting. she looked down at his face with slightly clenched fists. "Now give me the Toad!"

Fred leaned back in surprise as the girl got in his face. She was a little one, just like all the other first years, but he had to give it to her, she had spunk. and quite a short fuse. he put his hands up in surrender. "Alright alright. We took something, from a first year." He reached into the pockets of his robes. "Here it is." He pulled out one of those enchanted chocolate frogs.

Hermione stood up straight in confusion and disbelief as she saw the chocolate frog in his hand, croaking away, as it should. "But...What?"

"I stole this from a kid a few cars down. Didn't feel like paying for one myself so I snatched It when he wasn't looking. and maaan did he have a fit. He must really love chocolate, who wouldn't naturally." Fred smiled "Here…" he said taking out a Godric Gryffindor trading card "You can take the card that came in the box too, for seeing thru our ruse. Not like I want another Gryffindor anyway, I have Like, seven of them at home already."

Hermione takes the card and frog in her hands and looks back and forth between them confused. "Wh-What? Huh?" she was so sure they took trevor, but it seems like all they took was a chocolate frog. She didn't believe it, but the evidence was right here in her hands.

"You know. That's a nasty looking bruise you got there." Fred said pointing to the spot where Neville's shoe made contact with Hermione's head. It was close to her temple so the spot before it was hidden by her hair, but once she pulled her hair behind her ears it was as plain as day. "You may want to use your Puffy hair to hide that. It's reaaaally noticeable."

Hermione's hand went up to her head and she winced in pain. She groaned in frustration, then threw the card and frog down on the ground. "Leave my hair alone!" She muttered as she pulled her hair back over her ears to hide the bruise before turning around and leaving, slamming the door behind her.

After several moments passed and the twins were sure the girl was gone, George turned to Fred a wide smile on his face. "That was bloody brilliant Fred!"

Fred smiled as he turned towards his brother "Thanks George!" He said as he took the real trevor out of his cloak "I'm just glad I decided to swipe that chocolate frog off the trolley on our way."

"Yeah, or else we may have had to turn her into a frog to make sure she didn't tattle on us." George said jokingly, although a slight tone of seriousness could be heard in his voice.

"Yeah…" Fred began laughing "Imagine a frog with that thick puffy hair."

George laughed as the image formed in his head "Blimey that'd be a sight to see."

"She'd probably try to kill us if we did, she was no pushover."

"True, but that'll make it even more enjoyable to pull pranks on her in the future."

Fred smiled, the thought of pulling an actual prank on her intrigued him greatly, seeing her face scrunched up like it was earlier in frustration at them would be quite hysterical. he nodded "Yeah, she'll be one of the most fun to mess with, but for now, lets figure out how we're going to prank our baby brother once he gets sorted."

George smirked and rubbed his hands together as he leaned forward "This one's gotta be good."

Once the train finally made it to Hogwarts, Fred and George set Trevor free in the hallway before entering the great hall for the sorting of the first years. They figured the toad would be found sometime throughout the year. They sat together at the Gryffindor table with all the other second thru seventh year gryffindors, waiting for all the first years to arrive in the great hall. The other seat next to Fred is conveniently unoccupied. George leaned over closer to Fred and whispered in his ear "Did you do it?"

"Yep" Fred whispered back "it's all set, it was really easy, a simple enhancement we could have done in our sleep."

George smiled "This is gonna be quite the 'shock' to Ron, Don't ya think?"

Fred looked at his brother questioningly "years of making up jokes and you go with 'quite a shock?'

George gave his brother a smug look, "It was all I could think of at the moment."

Just then the large doors of the grand hall opened, and professor Mcgonagall walked in. Followed by all the new first years.

Fred and George looked at each other and thought the same thing. "Fresh meat." they already started planning all the pranks they'd play on the first year, they first wanted to begin with their little brother, Ron who was also a first year. the prank was already in motion, and all he needed to do was sit next to Fred.

"Hermione Granger"

The twins turned their heads towards the front as they heard Professor Mcgonagall start the sorting ceremony with the puffy haired girl from the train. everyone, Including hermione herself watches and waits in anticipation to see where the sorting hat will put her.

"Hmmm….Gryffindor!"

Hermione smiles, happy with her placement. She gets up from the stool and heads towards the Gryffindor table. She walked towards an empty seat next to another gryffindor she had yet to meet, when she saw there was an open seat next to the twins she met on the train. She needed to talk to both of them about what happened on the train, even though it seemed like they only took a chocolate frog, she had a huge feeling they took trevor too, and it was going to gnaw at her until she knew the truth, so she walked towards them.

Fred and George clapped as the sorting hat put the girl in Gryffindor, they both smiled, knowing playing pranks on her would be a whole lot easier now that they were all in the same house. However their smiles slightly faded and they cocked their heads to the side simultaneously as they noticed that it looked like she was walking towards them. it took them a moment to realize that she was planning to take the seat next to Fred. the one they planned for Ron to sit in. The twins quickly looked at each other in horror then turned back to her general directions and shook their heads and waved their arms vigorously. Motioning for her not to sit next to them.

Hermione stopped for a moment, seeing them motion for her not to sit by them was a little upsetting. Sure they didn't get off on the completely right foot on the train, but seeing them so adamantly telling her to go away kind of hurt. She didn't want people hating her, especially so soon. But she needed to talk to them, she'd move to a different seat at the table once she finished talking to them. she walked up to the twins. "I need to talk to you two."

"Can't we talk later?" Fred asked frantically

"Fred and I'll meet you in the common room after the sortings over, but right now you should probably take a seat over there." George said

"Don't worry I'll move in a moment but I really want to talk to you about what happened on the train." Hermione began to sit down "It'll only take a sec-"

"No!" the twins cried out simultaneously

The second hermione sat down, she was shot with a few volts of electricity. The twins stared in horror as hermione's pupils dilated and her hair frizzed up and poofed up worse than before. Although she got a few looks, most of the people in the grand hall were too busy with the sorting to noticed what just happened.

Hermione slowly turned towards Fred and George, her eyebrows furrowed so closely together, the gap inn between them was nonexistent.

"Uh...Heh...We're really really sorry Hermione." Fred Said

"We were not trying to do that to you." George quickly added

"It was supposed to be for our brother Ron."

"That's why we didn't want you sitting here."

"We tried to warn you…"

Hermione stared at the twins, unblinking as they tried to explain themselves. Several spells and enchantments she could use on them went thru her mind.

"GRYFFINDOR"

Hermione's train of thought was broken as the sorting hat called out that there was going to be another gryffindor. she broke her gaze on the now slightly cowering boys just as Ron took the seat right across from her.

"I'm so glad I got gryffindor! Imagine what mom would've done to me if I was put in any other house, especially Slytherin." He said as he sat down with a big grin on his face, it changed into a look of shock as he took one look at Hermione.

"Blimey, What happened to your hair?"

"Just the humidity in here…" Hermione mumbled thru gritted teeth. She glanced at the twins to her side one last time. The look on her face told them that this was not over. They knew they'd be hearing about this again.

* * *

To the Twins surprize, they didn't hear about it again. In fact for several weeks she didn't say one word to either of them. Not even one. They figured she must be really mad because of that accident on the first day. Or it could just be the fact that since they're two years apart they have hardly no classes together. But it seemed to them that she was purposely avoiding them. They didn't blame her, not after thinking about the fact that they constantly teased her about her puffy hair, then made it three times poofier by electrocuting her.

On halloween the twins skipped the beginning of lunch to set up for their next prank, when they heard a strange slightly muffled sound coming from down the hall. They looked at each other, shrugged and decided to see what it was. as they got closer they saw someone curled up in a ball in the corner. when they were a few steps away they realized it was hermione. Fred and George stopped in their tracks then turned around and whispered to each other.

"It's hermione." Fred said

"I know it is." George replied

"What do we do?"

"I don't know."

"Should we say something to her?"

"Is that a good idea? You know how girls get when they're upset."

"true...but still-"

"Would you two just go away?" Hermione said thru her sobs

Fred and George slowly turn around. Hermione hasn't moved an inch from her position. They took a hesitant step closer

"Hermione...You okay?" Fred asked

"Yeah." George said "What's wrong? What happened?"

"You're brother happened that's what!" Hermione yelled at them as she stood up. Tears still streaming down her face. "Next time you see him, tell for me that I know I have no friends and that i'm sorry i'm such a nightmare to him." She quickly walked into the girls bathroom nearby and slammed the door.

The twins watched her as she went into the bathroom, eyebrows raised.

"Well that wasn't pleasant. Sounds like Ron really hurt her." George said. "C'mon lets go Fred, lets go get some food." He began heading towards the grand hall

"Uh…" Fred said "I'll meet up with you in a minute. I uh… gotta...go" He said pointing his thumb towards the boys bathroom.

George looked at him then nodded. "All right. I'll save you a few pumpkin heads." He then turned around and continued on his way.

Fred walked towards the boys bathroom and opened the door slightly, looking back over his shoulder at his brother. Once George was gone he closed the door and headed towards the girls bathroom. He knocked on the door. "Hermione? It's Fred. Don't worry I'm not coming in." He said thru the door. "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for what my baby brother said about you. He can be a real big git sometimes. Heh, who am I to judge I haven't been the nicest to you either huh? You probably hate all us Weaslys don't you?" He knew he and George had been gits themselves to her, what with making fun of her hair and all, but he'd never say something as mean as what Ron said. "Don't worry our little sisters really nice. Nothing like us. You'll like her when she comes to hogwarts next year." He leaned against the doorframe "Oh and about Ron, he'll be regretting what he said soon." He reassured her. "Well...See you around Hermione." he walked away, his next big prank already in mind.

It was the morning after Fred talked to Hermione thru the door of the girls bathroom. She had forgiven Ron for what he said about her, but his words still echoed in her mind sometimes. She was studying for an upcoming potions test in the gryffindor comonroom. Although early in the morning there were several other fellow Gryffindors up doing the same as her. When all of a sudden a loud scream came from the boys dormitory. Everyone looked up from their books as Ron ran halfway down the stairs in such a frenzy, he tripped and tumbled down the rest of them. He got up and looked around bug eyed. Harry came walking down behind him, eyes narrowed with drowsiness like he had just been unexpectedly woken up.

Hermione looked at Ron in confusion "Uh...Ron? what's the matter with you?"

"Yeah." Neville said "You look like a muggle who's just seen a ghost."

Ron took a few deep breaths "I had a dream. That I was surrounded by spiders, and then I ran away, but then I bumped into all of the other Gryffindors, but I was only in boxers that had cartoony faces of all the teachers on it. When I woke up, there were spiders all over my bed! I was horrified! and that's why I ran down here in such a frenzy."

"I don't know what he's talking about." Harry chimed in "There were no spiders anywhere in sight, not one. It must've been a figment of your imagination Ron."

"I know what I saw!" Ron sighed "but maybe you're right. oh well" he half smiled "at least the other part of my dream wasn't real."

"Uhm...Check again little brother." Ron's older brother percy said, nodding down towards Ron's clothes.

Ron looked down. and stared in horror at what he saw: He was only in boxers, ones with cartoony versions of every one of the teachers at hogwarts. Just like in his dream.

Everyone in the common room burst into laughter.

"Bloody- I don't even own a pair of boxers like this! what's happening?!" Ron screeched as he tried to cover his boxers with a pillow and ran up the stairs.

Even Hermione found herself laughing.

"Maybe now he'll understand what a real nightmare is." someone said from behind her.

Hermione turned around, and saw Fred standing there. He looked down at her and gave her a half smile. "Told you he'd regret what he said about you."

Hermione stared wide eyed "You? but how?" she asked

Fred shrugged "It was easy. put a little bit of this potion in his drink that George and I made that makes the drinker dream about whatever we choose. Then I conjured up multiple apparitions of spiders that disappeared once he got out of bed. and on his way to the stairs, I used a little spell I learned that will make any clothing look however I want it to. Could have done it in my sleep."

Hermione looked at him with a small open mouthed smile. "Very clever. You and George must've put a lot of thought into this one."

"Actually George had nothing to do with this. This one was all me." Fred said proudly

Hermione raised an eyebrow. Although she'd barely known the twins half a year, she was surprised that he didn't ask his brother to help. She wondered why he decided to do this one alone, but it didn't matter she was actually grateful. His prank had made her smile, the first time since what happened yesterday. "Well...Thank you Fred."

Fred smiled down at her. "No Problem Puffy hair" he said jokingly as he headed back towards his dorm.

Hermione scoffed as she heard him call her puffy hair once again, but her smiled didn't fade as she went back to studying, for she had to admit, that nickname didn't bother her as much anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

Year 2

The rest of Hermione's first year went by very fast. The events that occurred by the end of it were things that she never could have imagined in her wildest dreams. Even for a witch like herself. She was nearly killed by a troll, strangled by devil's snare, was a part of a brutal life size game of wizard's chess, helped find the philosopher's stone, found out the dark arts teacher was evil and helping 'he who must not be named', and won the house cup. But now that year was over along with the summer and now her second year was about to begin. she boarded the train and a few minutes later it started moving. she walked thru the train looking for Ron and Harry. she was excited to talk to them, especially Harry. she wanted to question him on why he had never replied to any of her letters. She saw him in diagon alley a several days before to pick up their textbooks and supplies for the school year, but she had forgotten to ask him then. She was too distracted by Fred and George that day, who were constantly messing with her and her hair. She was sure she was going to explode at them and possibly hex them, but somehow she managed to keep her cool. she continued searching the train, but to her dismay, she could not find Harry, or Ron on the train. After searching through every train cart with no luck, she gave up and went to go sit with a few other fellow gryffindors. as the train began moving towards the school, Hermione wondered where those two could be, and just what kind of trouble they were probably getting themselves into.

* * *

Once the train stopped and all the students began exiting, Hermione did the same and headed towards the grand hall, In hopes that she'd find her two friends there, but once again they were nowhere to be found. Once the last few students trickled into the hall for the sorting ceremony. Once they were all in, the doors closed all on their own, as they usually do. and none of the students that came in were Harry or Ron. Hermione scoffed "Whatever they're doing, those boys are going to be in serious trouble when they finally turn up." Just then she heard someone (more precisely, TWO someones) call her name. She turned around and saw the twins waving her over. She narrowed her eyes and walked over to them. she crossed her arms over her chest as Fred patted the seat next to him, wanting her to sit down.

"Do you really think i'd sit right next to you two after what happened last year? I'd rather not get electrocuted again."

"Oh come one Hermione." Fred said "We already apologized for that."

"Besides it was an accident" George chimed in "It wasn't meant for you"

"Look" Fred said as he scooted over and stood up and sat down a few times, nothing was happening. the only noise that could be heard was the squeaking of the bench as Fred rose and sat down on it "See not booby trapped at all!" he said with a smile.

She stared at them for several seconds, then closed her eyes and sighed. "Alright." she said walking to the other side of the table. "But nothing better happen to me when or while i'm sitting here."

Fred smiled and scooted back over so she could sit. Both him and George put their hands on their chests. "Wizards honor" they said simultaneously with grins on their faces.

"Hah Hah" Hermione said as she sat down. to her surprise nothing happened. The three talked as they waited for the first years to arrive. Hermione found herself nearly laughing at a few of their jokes especially the ones Fred told. Soon the first years arrived and were sorted, The twin's sister Ginny, whom hermione had met once before was sorted into gryffindor, just like all the other Weaslys. the feast afterward was amazing as it was the year before. Hermione enjoyed herself so much talking to Fred George and Ginny that for a moment she had forgotten that her two best friends were missing. After the banquet however she was informed that they had been seen flying around in a flying car by muggles, then crashed the car into the womping willow outside on the school grounds. she shook her head. she knew that this could only be the beginning of another very hectic year.

Fred's year seemed to be starting off great. him and George had already pranked several people during the first few weeks and they have plenty more planned throughout the rest of the year. He also believed that Hermione was no longer mad at him and George for what happened last year, at least not as mad.

One day while Fred was heading to the quidditch practice area with the rest of the team, they were stopped by the slytherin team, with a note from Snape that said they were the ones who had the quidditch field today, meaning the Gryffindors didn't get to practice until next week. The slytherins explained (Quite cockily) that the reason for this was because of their new seeker, who was none other than Draco Malfoy, who come to find out had bought the entire team new broomsticks.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team bought their way on the team." Hermione said to Draco as a matter of factly. She and Ron happened to be studying nearby and they had walked over and over heard the whole confrontation.

Draco turned and walked right in front of her. he leaned forward slightly, and got in her face. "Nobody asked you...You mudblood."

When Fred heard what Draco called Hermione, his eyes widened. Anger rose up in his chest. He could throttle malfoy for what he just said to her. Mudblood was a terrible term that should never be used. Fred was reaching for his wand, mind set on turning that rude short little blond git into the most terrible thing Fred could think of, but his little brother beat him to the punch.

"You're gonna regret that malfoy. Eat slugs!" Ron Yelled as he whipped out his wand and aimed it at malfoy. Unfortunately for him his wand was broken, so the curse backfired. In the next moment Ron was hacking up slugs.

Hermione and the Gryffindor quidditch team all circled around him, worried about if he'd be all right, George was smiling and shaking his head. "He really needs to get that wand fixed."

Fred on the other hand wasn't listening. His mind was preoccupied on what he was just about to do had Ron not made a fool out of himself before he got a chance. No, not even the jokester Fred would ever find calling someone a mudblood funny, Especially Hermione, but he never guessed he'd get so enraged because of it. 'Was it because he had said that to Hermione that I had nearly act out in such a rash way?' He wondered. But why would that get me so upset? it's not like we're close like she and Ron are, and yet…' he looked down at Hermione who was kneeling on the ground next to Ron rubbing his back as he continued to vomit slugs onto the grass, before her and harry took Ron and left the courtyard. Fred watched them go 'I've never felt so mad in my life.'

Several months pass after that event. Rumors of the chamber of secrets being open spread around the school like a wildfire, and the rumors were confirmed once students began getting petrified, along with filch's cat.

Hermione was in the Library, researching polyjuice potions. Her Ron and Harry have been making one for a month now and it was nearly ready, she just wanted to make sure everything they've done was right, and that she knew all everything about it so nothing would go wrong.

"Afternoon, puffy hair"

Hermione knew exactly who it was who had just spoken. She looked up from her book and nearly jumped out of her chair when she saw Fred, wearing large bug eyed glasses and the most colorful, goofy looking Hat she had ever seen. "Why on Earth are you wearing such a ridiculous hat? and what on earth are you doing in a library?" she asked him in a harsh whisper.

Fred smiled "In all honesty? I was bored. So I came down here wearing this stuff to see how many people I could get to yell in shock when they first saw me and get in trouble for being too loud in the library."

Hermione stared at him with her eyebrows raised. she couldn't stop the small half smile that formed on her lips. She had to admit, the idea was original. "You know you can be a terrible person sometimes. Where's George?"

"When I left the dorms he was still asleep." Fred smirked "And I know I am." He said as he sat in the chair next to her. He took the hat and glasses off and set Them on the table. "What're you studying?"

"Potions" Hermione said dryly as she looked back at the book.

Fred leaned over her shoulder and glanced at the type of potions she was studying. "Polyjuice? Don't remember having to learn that in my 2nd year."

Hermione tensed up slightly at Fred's sudden closeness, but she didn't feel uncomfortable, She just wasn't expecting it is all. He was close enough that she could smell the scent of firework powder on him. She was concerned as to why he smelt like firework powder, it could only mean a prank, and a large one at that. she hoped it wasn't one on her, but they haven't pranked her in awhile so she figured they were going to sometime in the near future. She was surprised that he was so curious about what she was researching. "That's because it's not for school." She said. She decided that there was no need to lie to him about that, she figured he'd think she's just studying it because she wanted to.

"Oh really?" Fred said, not moving away from her. "So then you must be making it for some reason huh?" He glanced at her and grinned slightly. "Maybe to, I don't know...sneak into the slytherin common room by any chance?"

Hermione's head snapped towards Fred, her eyes as wide as a bludger. Their faces were inches away from each other, Fred's eyes widened slightly as well, only now did he realized how close he had been leaning towards her, but Hermione didn't notice at all. She was too preoccupied on what she had just heard him say, and how accurate it was. "Wh-What?...H-How?"

Fred smirked, leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. "I'm a weasley twin, I can find out everything." he said sarcastically with a chuckle "Nah, George and I followed you Harry and Ron to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom once and overheard your guy's conversation. clever thinking on your part having Ron and Harry being Crabb and Goyle by the way."

Hermione's eyes were still wide, and her mouth had opened slightly, you couldn't hide anything from him and George. She was genuinely dumbfounded. "Well thanks." she said to him trying to regain her composure. "Unfortunately I am not sure how to keep the real Crabb and Goyle from stumbling in and ruining everything."

"Oh that's simple." Fred said, rocking his chair back and forth on its back legs "A sleeping potion. mix a strong one into a batch of pasties or sweets and present it to them in an inconspicuous way and those two will be out for hours."

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, when she realized that it was the perfect solution, that would do the trick marvelously. "Fred, that's brilliant!" she yelled in excitement. The librarian shushed her. Hermione put a hand over her mouth and Fred burst into a quiet laughter.

"Hermione Granger has actually been shushed by a librarian for breaking the biggest library rule. I must mark this day on the calendar." Fred said a large smile still on his face

"Oh be quiet you." she said shoving him slightly in the shoulder, she had not realized that he was still teetering his chair on two back legs and her shove had caused him to fall backwards on the floor in a loud crash. she put her hands over her mouth "Oh my gosh Fred i'm so sorry are you alright?!"

Fred pushed himself up with his hands and blinked a few times, clearing out the stars he was seeing. "Yeah i'm alright...No worries. I deserved that."

The librarian shushed them both again louder and more forceful this time. Fred and Hermione turned towards her, then to each other and smiled, trying their best not to laugh.

"We best get out of here." Fred said "Before we get banned. I know you would not be happy if that happened." Fred said with that infamous smirk of his.

Hermione rolled her eyes with a smile. "Alright let's go."

Fred did not see Hermione again for a few days. He wanted to ask her how the slytherin infiltration went, but he couldn't find her anywhere. he was passing the hospital wing on his way to meet up with George when he heard loud coughing coming from the infirmary. His curiosity got the best of him and he took a peek in to see who was sick this time. He jumped back in surprise at what he saw; it was a student that had the face of a cat. he squinted trying to see anything that might indicate who the person was, when he noticed their extremely puffy hair. His eyes widened, there was only one person he knew with hair that thick. "Hermione?!"

Hermione's cat eyes widened as she heard that all too familiar voice. she turned her head and she saw none other than Fred in the doorway. "Oh no…" she said in horror as she coughed. "Fred what are you doing here?"

Fred didn't answer. He just stared blankly at her.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, then Hermione broke it by coughing up a hairball.

When Fred saw that, he pursed his lips, squinted his eyes, then immediately started laughing uncontrollably.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "It's not *cough* funny"

Fred tried to stop laughing, he really did. But just looking at her: Her furry face, her paw like hands, and especially her tail that was sticking out from under the covers, just made it impossible for him to stop.

Anger rose in Hermione's chest. She slightly growled at him, but it came out like a hiss, the way a cat would. "Get out of here Weasley!" she grabbed the pillow on her bed and chucked it at him. It hit him hard right in the face, muffling his laughter.

"Oof~!" Fred's head snapped back as it hit him in the face. He grabbed the pillow and held it there for a moment. his chest heaving as he tried to calm himself down. He pulled the pillow off his face and held it as he walked towards her. His laughter calming down, but his smile never fading. "I'm sorry, I really am. I did not mean to laugh at you, it's just…" He looked at her and forcefully stifled his next oncoming wave of laughter that he felt threatening to come out. "You look really cute as a half cat."

Hermione's eyes widened as she heard him say that. to her surprise, she felt her face heat up slightly under her mounds of fur.

Once Fred finally gained his full composure, he walked all the way up to her bed and leaned on the wall next to her. he closed his eyes, shook his head and made a tsk sound. "Hermioneee. Didn't you know polyjuice potions were only made for human transformations?"

Hermione looked straight ahead, refusing to look at Fred for asking such a silly question. "Of course I knew. I thought I had grabbed a piece of Millicent Bulstrode's hair off her robes, but turns out it was her cat's." she said to him as a matter of factly, frustrated with him. Honestly did he think she wouldn't know that. Does he know her at all?

Fred's smile softened as he saw her reaction to his question. "Ahhh, that makes sense. I never should've doubted you." he said with all serious, but of course a little of his cocky tone could be heard as usual. Surprisingly Hermione was no longer as upset with him when he said that, enough so that she turned her head to look at him. "No you shouldn't have." she said with a small smile.

Fred stared at her smile, even surrounded by fur she had a very nice smile. he smiled back then stretched. "Well...I'd better get going, George is probably wondering what kind of mischief I got myself into, and why I didn't tell him." Fred petted her head like he would an actual cats. "See you around Kitty." He said. Hermione slapped his arm. He chuckled then purred like a cat jokingly and headed out the infirmary. Hermione rolled her eyes at the twin and watched him go, not fully aware of the big smile that had formed on her face.

A few weeks passed after that. Fred was in the Gryffindor quidditch tent getting ready for the game against hufflepuff with the rest of the team. He and George were talking to Angelina Johnson about game tactics.

"This is going to be such an easy victory." Fred said confidently

"Don't get cocky Fred." Angelina said, tightening her gloves "Having an attitude like that might come and bite you in the butt one day."

"She's got a point." George said agreeing with Angelina, turning his head towards her "But you gotta admit Angelina, They're not the strongest most aggressive team."

"They're probably the worst out of all us school teams." Fred chimed in

Angelina sighed "I'm not disagreeing with you two, i'm just saying that underestimating them is not a good idea. You never know, one of their beaters may actually hit the bludger harder than you expect and it clocks you in the head" she said as she jokingly slapped both twins in the back of the heads simultaneously. All three of them began laughing. their laughter dissipated as Professor Mcgonagall walked in with a very serious and solemn look on her face.

"The game has been canceled." she said

"What?!" Fred and George said in unison. they were extremely upset, along with the rest of the team.

"All of you return to your common room." Mcgonagall said to them without any explanation.

The team begrudgingly complied and headed back to the gryffindor common room. all except Harry. Mcgonagall had pulled him aside and told him to follow her. As the twins got to the common room they saw that the entirety of the gryffindors were sent back here. Every gryffindor was in the common room; all but Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"It's always those three." George said

"You can say that again. Fred agreed.

A few hours passed before Harry, Ron, and Professor Mcgonagall came to the common room. Hermione was not with them. Fred and George went towards Harry and Ron.

"Well? What'd you guys get yourselves into this time?" George said sarcastically.

"Where's Hermione?" Fred asked before he could stop himself.

Harry and Ron stayed silent. Professor Mcgonagall cleared her throat and asked for everyone's attention. The common room went silent as everyone turned towards her.

"I am sad to inform you that yet another of your fellow Gryffindors; Hermione Granger, has become the latest victim of the attacks that have been happening throughout the school."

The Gryffindors began to murmur amongst themselves. Georges mouth dropped in shock. "Blimey, not Hermione too…"

"From now on I want all of you to go about your days here with extreme caution. there will be new rules that will take effect starting tomorrow. For now, you all should try and get some rest."

Fred didn't hear a word Professor Mcgonagall had said. his mind was somewhere else entirely. Hermione had been attacked. His friend, someone he truly cared about; Petrified, or worse…

"Fred? Hey Freddie."

Fred's train of thought was broken as he heard his twin brother's voice. He noticed George was waving a hand in his face. Fred blinked and leaned back slightly "Huh? What?"

"You okay? You were just staring off into space." George said

"Oh, sorry, my mind was just kinda preoccupied."

George raised an eyebrow

Fred looked at him and smirked "You know, thinking of all the pranks we should do next, and on who." Fred lied, but the way he said it and with his reputation; anyone would believe it.

Of course George was not just anyone, and knew it was something else, but he decided to play along. He smirked as well. "I like the way you think Freddie" He said "you gotta tell me all the pranks you were thinking up tomorrow, but right now i'm beat. we should head to bed."

Fred nodded "Yeah me too let's go."

As they got to their dorm they both headed to their own beds for the night. A few of their other roommates began trickling in the room and began heading to bed as well.

"G'night Freddie" George said, his drowsiness is clear in his voice

"G'night Georgie" Fred responded. After several minutes of silence, the steady breathing of his twin told Fred that George was fast asleep. Fred slithered out of bed and silently walked out of the dorm; careful not to wake his brother or their roommates. He snuck out of the common room and headed down the long stairs and endless hallways. He walked for so long he nearly forgot why he was out in the first place, until his feet stopped in front of the room that was his destination: the medical wing. As he looked inside he remembered immediately why he was there. He walked into the dark room. Even in the shadows of the night, Fred could still make out several silhouettes of people that occupied many of the beds. He walked down the aisles, looking at all the petrified patients, until he got to the end and stopped in front of one particular person. He stared down at his petrified puffy haired friend.

"Hey Hermione" he said with a whisper.

Hermione laid there, utterly still. Her hand was raised in the air, frozen in the position. It looked like she had been holding something up when she was attacked. Her eyes were staring up at the ceiling, wide and slightly frantic.

"Seems like you can't stay outta the infirmary can ya? Whaddaya like about this place so much? It can't be the food." He said with a half chuckle. Even though he chuckled he didn't really find his joke very funny. The longer he looked at her the more solemn he felt. He knew she was alive, if she wasn't she wouldn't be in the infirmary, but probably being shipped back home for the funeral. Still, the sight of her like this was not a sight Fred liked at all. "Blimey Hermione, of all the hundreds of muggle borns or half bloods in this school why'd you have to be one of the ones who this happened to? Ron and Harry are worried sick, when they got the news, they looked more petrified than you do." Fred continued to stare at her searching for words to say, but none would come. He rubbed his face with his hands. What was he even doing here anyway? It's not like he expected her to hear or answer him in this state. But he just needed to come and see her. He figured it was because, he knew deep down, he was immensely worried about her too. "the teachers are almost done getting the mandrake juice. It should be ready soon." He took one of Hermione's thick puffy locks in between his fingers and rubbed it gently. "You'll be okay puffy hair." He said, trying to reassure himself more than her. "You'll be better soon..."

Time passes and before they knew it, the end of the school year was upon them. The events that took place in between were quite hectic and stressful, especially for the weasley family. The same thing that had been attacking all the half bloods and muggle-borns had also taken the youngest Weasley child; Ginny, into its hidden lair under the school. But in the end Harry and Ron found the lair brought Ginny back and killed the Basilisk monster that had been tormenting the school.

Fred ran down the stairs and through the corridors. The year end feast and the announcement of the house ranks were about to begin and he had overslept. George had decided to let him sleep and go on without him. Fred could care less about the announcements because he was pretty sure gryffindor probably won again, but he did not wanna get there so late that all the good food was gone. Once it appeared Fred knew his brother Ron would scarf all he could down. As he got to the final stretch he stopped running took a deep breath then began to head inside the great hall.

"One of you twins always has to be late don't you?"

Fred heard a voice come from behind him. He turned around and saw Hermione standing behind him a few feet away, alive and unpetrified. Fred blinked. "Hermione...you're okay."

Hermione smiled and nodded "yeah. They finished the mandrake juice and gave it to all of us who were petrified yesterday. But they wanted to keep us in the medical wing one more night to see if there were going to be any unsuspecting side effects which there weren't thankfully."

Fred smiled "I'm glad you're alright. Ron and Harry were hysterical when you went under. They visited you all the time."

Hermione grinned "I'm sure they did, it's something I can see them doing. Even being the big boneheaded they are. She placed a hand on her hip, shifting her weight to one leg. "What about you though? Did visit me at all? Try to draw a moustache on me sometime or something?" She said sarcastically with a smirk.

Fred laughed "Nope I never tried to draw a moustache on you. Although that would've been very funny, blimey why didn't I think of that."

"Hah. Hah." Hermione rolled her eyes her facial expression never changing.

Fred chuckled as his smile softened. "I did visit though, y'know once or twice" he said to her

Hermione's eyebrows raised as she heard his last statement "really?" She looked down at the ground as a big smile tugged on the corners of her lips. She truly felt honored to know he had actually visited her. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she did. "Thank you." She looked back up, walked towards him and nudged him in the arm. "C'mon, let's get to the grand hall before the feast starts and Ron eats all the food." She said to him.

Fred grinned widely at her and laughed. She knew Ron all too well. "Alrighty," He motioned towards the hall entrance "lead the way."

Hermione grinned and headed towards the great hall with Fred following right behind her. This was but another hectic year for the brilliant, brown haired Hermione Granger, at Hogwarts. Perhaps even more hectic than the year before. But even so, she was quite happy with the way it was ending.

She had no idea what to expect for her upcoming third year at the school for Witchcraft and Wizardry; but at least she'd have three calm, peaceful months to use to prepare herself for it with.


End file.
